Olympic Athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918 -2004) Wasn’t Perfect

I’ve made a mistake. I’m talking on the phone, and we only had a few minutes. Under pressure, I talk fast, and despite how I try to curb it, I’m curt. I sound like a jerk.

Everyone who knows me well can name a few of my character flaws. Hopefully, over time, all will be forgotten or forgiven. I’m human.

So why do we demand that our historical figures be perfect?

Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen was married with two children when she competed in the 1948 Olympics in track and field. She received many letters from people saying she should be staying home with her children. They also said, since she was 30 years old, she was “too old to make the grade.”

She showed them. She won four gold medals, the only female athlete to have won that many medals in a single Olympic Games. She accomplished this despite training only twice a week before the competition because she was again pregnant.

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